Friendship Mittens
by VampireSquid
Summary: Raven knits, Starfire learns to knit. I just figured it wasn't as peculiar, if as uncommon, as it could have been. Which is good, if you like gooey acts of kindness. I doubt many people will have issues with the terminology. It's minimalist at best.


Raven knits. It was a little known fact amongst her friends, indeed she hid it carefully. She doubts she'd be spared if anybody found out. Honestly, dark, mysterious, not in any ways arts-and-craftsy Raven. Knitting. It seems almost ludicrously strange an image, Mother Mae-eye knits, little old ladies knit, big, burly sailors knit. Not depressing, "in the throes of inner angst", superheroes. They're supposed to beat up evildoers and wallow in misery, read horror novels(which she does too, but you can only read a book, it does change, grow, it's not your work, it gets boring after a while, what with many authors tendencies at recycling plots) not knit up socks.

However, it aids in calming herself, even where meditation can't. Many times after emotional upheavals or taxing missions she'll lock herself in her room and work on various projects, hidden and utilized in the winter months when a leotard is simply not enough. Only Starfire has ever received anything as a gift, because she's the only one who knows(spotted it while window washing, after all, why close the curtains and turn on lights and waste daylight?). It was torture, working with bright yellow yarn, and her supplier gave her a funny look in response to her deviation from her usual subdued color palette.

She got a particularly pleasant feeling from knitting gifts, nontheless. She's given Starfire a scarf and some of the longest socks in knitting history. They were practically rainbow stockings. Needless to say, Starfire was thrilled. And, to a lesser extreme, so was Raven. She'd never tell anyone, but knowing she's made someone happy, even someone as easily elated as Starfire, always makes her smile as soon as they're out of sight.

She had been working on a hat when Starfire entreated access to her room. Raven let her in, the only person she willing allows in there is Starfire, who'd come to an understanding early on to only touch what she was giving expressed permission to touch. Starfire floated to where Raven was situated on her bed with a wad of dark red yarn and double pointed needles on her lap and a basket of supplies close by.

Starfire indicated the basket with a hand gesture and Raven nodded. Maybe it was her brief experience as a cat, but the extraterrestrial was always fond of playing with yarn balls, or at least was once she learned that Raven allowed her to. Raven had taken to keeping a few spare balls in the basket to amuse her friend without impeding her work. Starfire silently swatted at/rolled about/attacked the ball few a few minutes before returning her attention to the knitting girl she had come to visit.

"Friend Raven?" Starfire asked, fingering the yarn between her hands nervously. Raven looked up.

"Yes?"

"Could… would you… um, might you be willing to impart the art of knitting to me?" Starfire asked. She looked sheepish, holding the yarn ball tightly and looking hopefully at Raven.

Raven hesitated a moment. "I might be." she said. Starfire was good student, she had proved that much before. "Sure. Why not."

Starfire squealed and hugged Raven, being sure to not crush any vital organs. "Oh Raven! I thank you for your kindness!" She abruptly let go, clapped her hands together and asked "When shall we begin?"

"As soon as I get you a pair of needles and you pick out some yarn."

***

To Raven's surprise, when given a choice between pink, yellow, lavender and lime green yarn, Starfire dived at a navy blue and was adamant that that would be the color of her training yarn. Raven was surprised, and decided that once Starfire gets the gist of it she'll offer the rejected colors over for future projects. The bright colors hurt her eyes anyways, they were only bought so Starfire could pick one.

Lessons had started smoothly enough, Starfire had managed a truly insane mistake piece that that quite easily resembled a giraffe. When learning to cast off, instead of finishing, Starfire undid the whole thing. The second attempt was smoother and more closely resembled knitting. She unraveled that one too. It had been a week since Starfire had visited with a question or an inquisition of how a mistake was made that decreased the stitches per row by twelve unintentionally. Raven would have started worrying had not Starfire came to her one evening while she was reading a rather delightful book about crazy people.

She had entered, no knitting needle, no hairpieces and one hand behind her back. Raven knew she was nervous.

"Raven. Have you not wondered why I wished to learn to knit?" Starfire asked.

"I guess so, I thought you just wanted to know how."

"That is true, the artful twisting of yarn into various shapes looks rather appealing and I did wish to be able to reproduce such pieces, but that was not my impetus." Starfire's hand was still behind her back, but she had settled herself beside Raven on the edge of the bed.

"Then what was?"

"I had two. In learning you would be my teacher and it seemed a form of the "girl time" that you would like. Then perhaps we could have a circle of knitting and we would have a common interest." That was true. Raven doubted she'd be as will to be Starfire's learning tool if, for example, she wanted to learn hairdressing. And a "circle of knitting" with Starfire might be nice, she doesn't make half as much noise when she's trying to knit.

"My second is that you have used the knitting to create warm garments for me, all of which must have taken a considerable amount of time to create and are in colors you are generally adverse to." Also true.

"I wished to make something for you, to thank you for the time you spent on my behalf. I wished for it to be the first thing I made, so you would know that only your teachings had enabled me to produce it. Like if you had made it with me. Here." Starfire removed the hand from behind her back to reveal a pair of blue mittens. One looked far more worked than the other, probably from the constant reworking of the yarn. It was unevenly stitched and the thumb was clumsy. The second, although better in quality, was also inexpert and a bit holey. Both were perfect so far as Raven was concerned.

"Thank you." Raven put down her book, careful to note her page, plucked the mittens from Starfire's hand and slid them on, one was a little big, both still fit well enough. She was grinning a bit. Starfire looked ready to shed tears of relief at the reception her gift received.

Raven hugged Starfire briefly, a sudden, impulsive gesture. Starfire smiled broadly. She was wearing the rainbow socks.

***

Starfire, shortly afterwards, told the others she had learned to knit, at Raven's request she had omitted where she had gained this knowledge. She made a gift for everybody. Mostly scarves of various colors, since she was still not used to it and had been incredibly ambitious in trying for mittens after a couple of weeks. Notably a rather stretchy orange hat for Beast Boy, who refused to take it off, saying that it made him feel more in tune with his inner sheep. Raven made gifts for the others, too, once Starfire got better at it and the difference in skill level was less obvious, she had Starfire disperse them, even allowing her to work on things she had started. Raven was always there when they were received. A scarf and hat for Cyborg, for one, mostly hats, a pair of socks, and sweater each for Melvin Tommy and Teether.

There was only one gift Raven delivered in person. It was for Starfire. A pair of mittens.

***

Well, in Winner Takes All, Raven is knitting, and since Starfire's the only person home, I assume that knitting in public isn't something she does often. Since Starfire is (according to the special features on the DVD's) Raven's best friend, it makes sense that Starfire might be the only one who knows. In the Arctic Episodes and For Real, Cyborg was wearing a hat and scarves. There were inferences made. I don't know, the mitten thing seemed awful sweet to me. I figured a knitting story would be a lovely change from all those weird things I write at this sort of hour. Some of them are here if you're in the mood for something silly/strange. Most are not because they're not fan work. Eh.


End file.
